1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to apparatus for feeding or moving individual paper sheets and more specifically to a novel single wheel pivoted paper feed head for feeding single sheets from a stack of sheets one at a time to a recording and/or copying station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Feeding and transporting flimsy sheet items such as paper and the like involves numerous problems not the least of which included multiple feed, overlapping feed and collision between sheets resulting in crumbling of the paper, jamming and tearing which often results in complete jamming of the machine.
A common means of attempting to avoid or overcome these problems include counter rotating rollers arranged in the path of movement of the paper and disposed in surface contact so as to "strip" the lower sheet from the upper sheet permitting the upper sheet to pass to its intended destination.
Another structural arrangement utilizes counter-rotating belts often in the form of an irregular triangle disposed adjacent to the feed drive wheels and also operable to strip the lower sheet from the upper sheet.
None of these prior systems is completely "fail safe" in that each is subject to wear and alignment problems and each requires a relatively high degree of mechanical tolerance and accuracy. Belts tend to slip and produce irregular wear while both wheels and belts or pulleys are noisy and expensive to maintain and replace.